Pre-announcement: Commercial Support Options Coming Soon

In the coming weeks ahead, MODx will be offering Commercial Support Services for our CMF. One of the perks of having a commercial support subscription will be access to a private forums specifically for subscription holders. Our initial thoughts on the forum topics:

Best practices — Tips & Tricks for Better Sites and Custom Apps
Installation, Migration and Upgrades — Advice, Questions and Troubleshooting
Coding MODx — API Assistance and High-level Planning
General Troubleshooting — Core framework, API and manager functionality or problems
Components — High-level support for Snippets, Plugins and Modules
Blue Sky — Whatever floats your boat

Some of the senior Core Team members and other recognized experts will have access to this forum, and we hope it makes for an even more valuable experience for those building businesses around MODx or for those in-house users wanting an extra level of help in a pinch. Feel free to ask questions and make suggestions in this thread.

Thanks!

Hi Ryan,

have you had any thoughts as to a price for the subscription as yet?

My first thoughts are less than positive after seeing the graveyard that is the subscription free forum of xt:commerce.

On the other hand I can understand the need for funds to keep the development going.

When you say access to private forums, I take it you mean access, or will people be able to browse but not post?

All the best,
Taff

Good questions Taff. Thanks.

I don’t know about read-only browsing by all yet honestly. ExtJS has a very active premium forums that can only be posted to by support subscribers, and at least some of them (if not all) are viewable by everyone. SMF has it’s charter member program which is also very active and 100% hidden behind a login. I certainly hope that ours becomes quite active as well and a valuable resource. I’ll likely leave it up to what the paying customers want, and I certainly wouldn’t blame them for wanting the perception of safety that can come with privacy and being able to ask questions that will essentially invisible to the world at large, including competitors.

The private forums are intended to augment our support ticket system also available to some of the plans. Support tickets can be used for private resolution of issues or consulting services in a predictable timeframe. (With faster response comes higher prices obviously.) We are also still working through the details of offering phone support as well, which should be available shortly after launching the online forum/ticket support plans. Our automatic billing platform is almost complete, our support ticket solution is in place, and the forums are stubbed out. We know the direction we need to take for phone support as well.

For the forums, there is certainly very much an incentive to make sure that every single question is answered promptly, and some of the best practices and coding ideas we’ve learned over the years of working with MODx (and that we’ll share in the Best Practices Topic) should also definitely be of tremendous value—particularly as the new core found in 097 starts to roll out. (We’ve been working with it for a year now as well internally! )

As far as pricing goes, the intention is that any business selling services around MODx or using it as a critical piece of their business infrastructure should be able to afford an entry-level Forum-only subscription. Those that need 24x7 Emergency phone support and remote login troubleshooting will be accommodated as well, at obviously considerably higher prices more appropriate to Enterprise customers. If MODx is to grow and gain broad acceptance with business customers, this option will be neccessary.

Regardless, any of the options will be a simple month-to-month subscription plan that you can change your mind about any time.

So this means that the "Core Team members and other recognized experts" will stop answering questions and helping in the "non-premium" forums?

Quote from: charliez at Jun 28, 2007, 10:30 AM

So this means that the "Core Team members and other recognized experts" will stop answering questions and helping in the "non-premium" forums?

No, I believe Ryan means these individuals will have access to the premium forums so they can participate, and exchange knowledge between the public and premium forums should the latter remain private. Keep in mind that "Core Team members and other recognized experts" does not necessarily equal support staff. Support subscriptions simply become another way you can contribute to the MODx community. Many people don’t have the resources to contribute code, assistance on the forums, or documentation, but with this offering, anyone can subscribe for focused assistance and help support the MODx ecosystem at the same time.

I don’t think I’ll be alone saying this won’t happen, not to this community.

I know I won’t stop helping, especially newcomers or "average users" (if there is such a thing) when they do make an effort to learn and provide information helping to solve their problems. Problem solving is also a way to help improve MODx, lots of idea now implemented in the current release are born out of support questions or problems. This will remain true.

But let’s face it, the most "resource intensive" support needs are from people who actually make bucks with MODx (or at least, have an extensive use of the software). We have specific needs, which often mean specific answers, and guess what ? It takes time of providing case by case answers and customized solutions. Keep in mind that 80% users won’t need to go this far and will be perfectly fine with support from the "free" boards.

I am one of those who make a living out of selling MODx services and as such I find it normal to donate and/or to give time in return, I’ll find it understandable that the people who get a lot out of MODx (usually what would have taken much more resources to accomplish the same thing with another tool) give back a reasonnable amount to access high-level support (which wouldn’t be possible in the first place without this kind of premium membership anyway !).

Just chek Ryan’s post : those forums won’t adress the same issues the current forums do, they’ll allow you to strech MODx to its full power and possibly help you provide far better services to your client or end users. I sure am going to use private tickets when needed, since many things are out of my skill range. I’ll be glad to be able to rely on the best there are around to take care of things

There is no question whatsoever about the team’s comittment to the open source model. Having commercial support doesn’t mean (of course) dual licensing nor commercial software (and by the way Movable Type can’t be compared here). Neither does it mean the (lively) forums will stop being helpful.

The only thing that will happen witht the commercial support is : webdesigners and webdeveloppers will know if they choose to sell MODx based services they can rely on high quality / advanced support from the people who made (or heavily contributed to) the software and its extensions. Clients will know that people who sell MODx based services are backed up by the most skilled : I say, great opportunity !

Quote from: ganeshXL at Jun 28, 2007, 11:45 AM

While I certainly wish the main developers all the money in the world for making such a great framework/CMS possible, I think it sends out bad vibes towards newcomers. If new potential modx users see unfinished, not up-to-date documentations, coupled with a $$$-only forum for support, modx won’t take off like you wish it would. I’d really prefer more good tutorials, docs, examples etc. first.

Honestly, it has already far surpassed our wildest hopes, and I don’t see it slowing down. With growth though becomes the necessity to have changes, and I understand not everyone will like them. But if the project is to survive and continue to prosper, new things have to take place.

Supporting an ecosystem like what is becoming of MODx could easily crush the project under it’s own weight. A commercial support forum gives a place on which priority can be given first, but that doesn’t mean free channels will be ignored. I’m still pleasantly surprised to see good answers from people I’ve never noticed before answering questions on the forums. I fully expect this to continue.

As it is now I could spend, quite literally, 24 hours a day answering support questions on the forum ... ignoring my family and ability to pay for food. While I’d love to be able to not have to worry about evil capitalistic things like money to buy food and pay for living expenses, the reality is that its necessary. Somewhere a balance has to be struck and commercial support is an option that makes a lot of sense. Rather than speculate on doom-and-gloom scenarios, why not see what comes about? You have a very valid concerns, but I just don’t see them as being a reality.

Take a look at the Movable Type pricing options. I think that’s the way to go. Different pricing plans depending on your needs, with always one option for an open-source version too. They’re doing very well with it.

We’re not Movable Type. MODx is not for sale, and we don’t have a dual-license option. In my experience, companies often want to be able to pay for answers and assistance in a predictable timeframe. Businesses could also provide resources to fund ongoing MODx development vis-a-vis support subscriptions. The needs of independent freelancers who’re moonlighting with MODx or just getting started are grossly different than a mature business responsible to external stakeholders or shareholders who’re considering installing MODx for a mission critical part of their IT infrastructure. Businesses like insurance policies, as a hedge against unforeseen things that can (and almost inevitably will) happen. A commercial support contract in essence is an insurance policy.

Currently, there are no predictable support time-horizons provided by our forums. There is currently no venue for someone to send a support ticket to the core developers and have an SLA that says it will be addressed/responded to within a certain window. There is certainly no bat phone someone can pick up around the clock and talk to a real human being who’s going to make sure that the right person is on the job. But there will be soon.

I understand perfectly all you guys say and actually know that makes a lot of sense...
my only concern is that this appears just before 9.7 and 1.0 (with xPDO) is just about
to be launched... so it kinda sounds like, free help and forums for pre 9.7 people and if
anybody wants help and forums with the new versions will have to go commercial...

just giving a heads up and I know you guys will think it carefully and hard...
as an example we can think to what happened to SugarCRM, it went little by little
to the commercial side and VTiger had to be created to go back to the roots... and
it is turning into amazing stuff...

I know the hardest thing to do is to grow... a projecto or company or whatever... just
a heads up...

charliez, I think your imagination is getting away from you. I have multiple requests from multiple businesses to have commercial support that they pay for and that they can expect response in a determinable amount of time backed by an SLA. I’m just trying to make them happy, and at the same time create a venue with a low commitment through which others can likewise give back.

This can be a good idea. I have spoken with a few clients that were hesitant on using an app without support services and would be willing to pay for it (as long as it was reasonable). Just having the option is good. Will this be strictly in english or will other languages be supported? I always get the felling that there is a lot of info in the other languages that I am missing out on.